Hospital Laundry Sanitizer

[sarahperdue]

Howdy folks,

I'm looking for a recommendation for laundry sanitizer for healthcare applications. I work at a short-term crisis center. We have our clients change into scrubs and wash their clothes for them. Some of the clothes people bring in are smelly, filthy. I'd like to sanitize the clothes and leave the machine sanitary for the next wash. LCB won't work because we are dealing with a lot of colors.

Thanks in advance,
Sarah

 

[appnut]

Lysol Laundry sanitizer??

 

[ea56]

If the facility you work in has some Quaternary Ammonium Compound or Quats around that they use for sanitizing other implements and articles you could use this in the wash cycle with the detergent.  

 

I was a licensed Cosmetologist from 1970-2010 when I  finally let my license lapse because I quit doing hair professionally in 1985.  Quats were what we used to sanitize our combs and brushes using a a ratio of 1000 parts per million if I recall correctly.  Most of the shops I worked in just poured a big glug of the Barbacide into a dishpan and filled it with hot water then removed the  hair from the combs and brushes, washed them and then submerged them in the Barbicide solution and let them soak for about 10 mins.

 

I think that Barbicide would sanitize dirty clothing well and then drying them in a hot dryer outta finish of any bacteria that might remain.

 

Eddie

 

[mrboilwash]

Don`t mix quat based sanitizer with detergent.
Most detergents contain anionic surfactants (negatively charged) and quats are just like fabric softener cationic surfactants (positively charged).

When mixed the two will cancel each other out which means either poor cleaning and or poor sanitation. That`s why quat based sanitizers are always recommended for the rinse cycle only.

You might just as well get good results if you don`t ever wash in cold, use a good regular powder detergent like Tide with bleach in sufficient amounts, drying things thoroughly and not mixing cloths of different clients in a load.

 

[DADoES]

 
Lysol Laundry Sanitizer instructions state that the product is added to the, presumably last, rinse and items must soak in the solution for 15 minutes ... which involves pausing the machine for a manual soak during the rinse because I don't believe there are any machines nowadays with a 15-minute final rinse period, and how is that rinse-soaking supposed to be done with a frontloader?

 

[launderess]

For what it's worth: https://www.dranniesexperiments.com/laundry-experiments/laundry-product-testing

Thing is types of bacteria killed or whatever by Lysol sanitizer are pretty low hanging fruit. https://www.todaysparent.com/product-reviews/home/laundry-products/lysol-laundry-additive/

Using quats for sanitizing or disinfecting anything isn't easy.

First quats are inactivated by detergents, soaps and soils. Thus whatever one is going to sanitize or whatever must be clean and well rinsed. Adding Lysol, Persil or any other hygiene rinse where soap/detergent is still in textiles is a waste of time.

Next quats must be doses in specific ratio to make powerful enough action that gets job done. If one looks at cap of Persil, Lysol and other hygiene rinses and or examines dosage instructions one sees it takes quite a lot of product.

Finally quats require somewhat long contact time to be effective. Lysol's directions are conflicting. On the one hand they say to use in final rinse, but other directions on same packet state contact time must be at least 15 minutes. Don't know any domestic washing machine that has final rinses that long.

Persil withdrew it's "Hygienespueler" from market IIRC. Am not surprised as consumer testing done by German groups proved such products largely were useless.

Other issue with quat based laundry products is one is flushing all that biocides down drain which can impact environment.

https://www.stmelf.bayern.de/bildun...nespueler-sind-sie-wirklich-noetig/index.html

When German consumer tested ranked hygiene products for laundry Ariel "Professional" detergent (with advanced AOB system) was top pick. Other high ranking agents were largely washing machine cleaners meant to deal with biofilm.

https://www.welt.de/vergleich/hygienespueler/

Then there is fact whatever one uses in final rinse of laundry will leave a residue that is dried onto wash.

Benzalkonium chloride is a mixture of alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides. These ammonium compounds have a preservative and disinfecting effect. This means that they can effectively fight bacteria, yeast, fungi and algae and, to a limited extent, viruses with disinfection.

Benzalkonium chloride is a component of many cleaning agents and disinfectants and is used in laundry disinfection. In the medical field, the ingredient is used in the treatment of skin fungi or inflammation in the throat. In the pharmaceutical sector, benzalkonium chloride is used as a preservative component of nose and eye drops. The substance can cause allergies.
[this post was last edited: 9/12/2024-13:41]

 

[launderess]

Gold standard for sanitizing laundry is chlorine bleach with high enough chemical content (EPA registered).

Thermal is next but both in Europe and USA recommended temps are between 160F to 180F held for at least 10 minutes.

OTOH more recent testing has shown temps low as 140F (again held for ten or more minutes) then followed by hot tumble drying is effective as higher temperatures. Key is things must be dried in tumble dryer and or ironed.

One of other issues is that domestic (and even some commercial/industrial) washing machines themselves are contaminated with various bacteria/germs/viruses, etc... This biofilm simply transfers whatever "germs" are present to textiles laundered regardless of most usual chemical or other actions taken.

Better than various laundry "sanitizers" is use of laundry detergents and or additives that contain activated oxygen bleaching systems (AOB).

AOB combines oxygen bleach (hydrogen peroxide in some form) with an activator (usually TAED or NBOS) to form peracetic acid, a far more powerful disinfectant than pure oxygen bleaches.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229498/

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/122921/Repub_122921.pdf

https://active-oxygens.evonik.com/e...es and viruses.,prior to the dewatering cycle.

https://biosanpaa.com/laundry/

 

[launderess]

While not common in USA outside of industrial/commercial laundry suppliers in Europe one can find laundry detergent powders marketed (and apparently certified) as "disinfectants" based on AOB technology.

https://www.vos-shop.de/desinfektions-waschmittel-sanomat-8-15-20kg

https://www.praxisdienst.de/Dental/Praxishygiene/Pflegen/Waschpulver/



These products contain higher ratio of oxygen bleach to activating agent which gives them more power to sanitize over say normal "... with bleach" powder detergents or additives.

Thing is with using AOB to disinfect/sanitize laundry is high temps are still required (at least 140F) and held for specific time as noted in directions. That and dosage must be of required amounts as given with instructions. So all and all such products aren't often best choice for non colourfast textiles as repeated laundering at high temps and strong bleaching action likely will cause fading.

It pays to wander about the archives:

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?42587

Listen to the lady:

https://shityoudontneed.blog/2019/04/03/antibacterial-laundry-cleanser/
[this post was last edited: 9/12/2024-13:52]

 

[askolover]

The brown bottle of Lysol...but everything will smell like a doctor's office afterwards! Personally with my colored hospital scrubs when I've been around patients with bad isolation worthy germs I just pour some ocean scent Lysol in my Miele dispenser. Never had a problem. Of course, if things don't have elastic in them I just crank the Miele to the 190f wash cycle

 

[tomturbomatic]

Is the Lysol in the blue bottle still available? Both of those little bottles used to be great for getting rid of mildew and sour odors in laundry. Both of them relied on phenol to disinfect. I don't know if phenol is still available.

 

[launderess]

Lysol in brown bottle originally contained cresol same as carbolic soap such as Lifebuoy. Cresol was found to be possibly carcinogenic so it had to go.

Lehn & Fink (original makers of Lysol) replaced cresol in 1952 with ortho-hydroxydiphenyl.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Phenylphenol

Lysol in brown bottles then was o-Benzyl-p-chorophenol and bit of cresylic acid.

https://19january2017snapshot.epa.g...es/2016-09/documents/cresol-cresylic-acid.pdf

By 2000's:

https://www.whatsinproducts.com/types/type_detail/1/12006/standard/span style="color:#a9a9a9;">Lysol%20Brand%20Concentrate%20Disinfectant,%20Original%20Scent-07/08/2010-Old%20Product/span>/18-001-430

https://rbnainfo.com/smart-label.php?productLineId=342#activeIngred

By 2015 cresol is still in Lysol, but at very low levels.

https://www.whatsinproducts.com/types/type_detail/1/16137/standard/p class="p1">Lysol%20Brand%20Concentrate%20Disinfectant,%20Original%20Scent-04/01/2015/p>/18-001-829

Have several bottles of Lysol in old brown bottles (bought from local old school hardware store going out of business). When using memories at once came back as to why one didn't like the stuff. One of our grandmothers would have nothing else so lucky me was forced to use the stuff when dragooned into domestic service.

Besides scent was fact that Lysol of old was a soap based product. It left a film on things unless rinsed. That meant after cleaning the loo with buck of water and Lysol one had to go back and wipe things down again to remove dulling film.

 

[launderess]

Everything goes in circles.

Hexachlorophene was meant to replace "carbolic" soaps for handwashing and other purposes in hospitals and so forth. Any place where something more was deemed when hand washing or bathing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexachlorophene

When hexachlorophene was given the push up came triclosan. Now that substance too has been given the shove.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/heal...srupting,decrease in certain thyroid hormones.

Chlorhexidine gluconate (Hibiclens) now is preferred pre-surgical scrub, handwashing (in certain instances) and other uses in healthcare. Problem is the stuff makes ghastly brown marks if residue on fabrics comes into contact with chlorine bleach. For this reason laundries that process healthcare linens have largely moved over to oxygen bleaching systems.

Regarding uniforms and hospital textiles prior to chlorhexidine it was betadine everyone hated. Getting that stuff out of "starched whites" was a royal pain. Happily some clever person invented Zout which was originally marketed to nurses for removing stains from uniforms.

Granulex is another substance that causes horrible stains on uniforms and textiles.

 

[bpetersxx]

oh shoot

reply 4

does the calypso rinse long enough for that

My Haier washer can do that just switch off power for a rinse soak

But I do not think electronic washer can do that long pausing

Reply 5
Is that why my Haier combo adds the bleach in the second rinse

Lysol in the brown bottle is still available

At Dollar General with the floor care stuff aisle

 

[combo52]

Sanitizing laundry

Hi Sarah, it would be helpful to know what type of laundry equipment is available to you. Maybe what the temperature of the water is where the laundry equipment is installed to make best recommendations.

In general almost everything can be washed in hot water today unless you have extremely hot water And most color fast clothing can be bleached with chlorine bleach if it’s done properly and not an excessive amounts if you have even colored underwear, towels, socks, etc., that you want to disinfect.

Getting things up to at least 150° in our clothes dryer also helps.

John

 

[cleanteamofny]

 

 

If your laundry machine is a front-loader, use Lysol Sanitizer in the bleach and fabric softener compartments. Usually, the bleach is dispensed in the first rinse. This method could be used if you're pressing for time for a fast turnaround.

 

You can also manipulate the timer to rewash with Lysol. After 15 minutes, cancel the cycle, drain, spin, and dry normally.

 

[sarahperdue]

Thanks all

We're using residential machines. The washer is a top loader with electronic controls. We always wash on hot and dry on hot. We're using some kind of blue liquid detergent in 5 gallon buckets. I don't know what it's called, and it's hard to see the label.

Given the varied abilities of the staff members who wash the laundry, it might be best to just stick with the status quo. I'll try to find the label on the detergent we use and read about it.

I posted the question after a particularly bad set of client clothes. I probably should have just washed them twice.

Sarah

 

[jamiel]

This would actually be a good solution to call either Economics Labs or a local cleaning supply company for professional-level advice. They would be able to help with dosing, temperature, etc etc for the type machines you have now. P&G Professional might be a good line which the volunteers would understand (as they probably use Tide Professional as their brand name).

 

[launderess]

"Economics Labs"?

Do you mean *Ecolab*?

They do not deal with domestic consumers period. Their sales reps and customer service agents only work with professional, industrial and commercial laundries and other areas they cover such as ware washing, housekeeping, hospitality, foodservice, etc..

Ecolab products are often sold on places like fleaPay and other sources, but don't bother calling Ecolab for assistance, dosage directions, etc.. unless are noted as above.

With chemical suppliers such as Ecolab everything comes down to local sales rep. He or she is the one who goes to laundries and not only supplies chemicals but programs machines for dosage.

 

[launderess]

Ecolab like other chemical suppliers has a range of laundry sanitizers and disinfectants. Thing is they are all designed largely for commercial/industrial washing machines. Such appliances are normally made from stronger metals then say domestic washing machines.

Ecolab’s AdvaCare™ Is the First Laundry Disinfectant and Oxidizer to Receive U.S. EPA Approval for Emerging Viral Pathogen Claim as Effective Against SARS-CoV-2, the Virus That Causes COVID-19

Ecolab’s AdvaCare™ Is the First Laundry Disinfectant and Oxidizer to Receive U.S. EPA Approval for Emerging Viral Pathogen Claim as Effective Against SARS-CoV-2, the Virus That Causes COVID-19

www.ecolab.com